CRM 200 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Actus Reus, Regulatory Offence, Legal Certainty
12 Feb 2018
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Chapter 3: the prohibited act, or actus reus. Strict and purposive constructions of the criminal law: statutory interpretation. Interpreting the statute either broadly or narrowly: strict construction of the criminal law. Interpretation in a narrow manner: conflicts with the legal certainty since there is no single interpretation, marcotte v. canada deputy a. g. : 1976, r v. pare (1987) Indecency was defined as harm caused and since there was no harm the charges were dropped. It is an effective way to counteract overbroad laws. It can make up for the fact that courts less use strict construction. It is fairly low risk (its use can be justified and contested on appeal: unconstitutionally broad or vague laws, section 7 and void for vagueness . Interpretation of words used and previous court interpretation of those words: winko v. british columbia (1999) Ignorance of the law: they modified elements, age was a factor (between 2 and 12)
